Forest Moods

This woodland property is unique in having several distinct types of forest, each with its own character: mystical cedars, feathery larches, towering red pines, dense spruces, hardwood bush dominated by sugar maples, and white pines that whisper to you in the breeze.

Trail through the white pines, near settler’s barn foundation ruins.

The Japanese have long known the beneficial effects of shinrin-yoku (defined as “making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest”), or forest bathing as it is often referred to in the west. In recent years, science has caught up with this common sense and actually quantified some of these beneficial effects. Learn more about how surrounding oneself with trees can make a difference on so many levels:

Let Nature Be Your Medicine – A quick overview of “forest bathing” and its benefits, written by Off-Grid Retreat host and published in Grey-Bruce Mosaic magazine.

As owner, guardian, and amateur woodsman 🙂 of the 50 acre woodlands here, and as a professional with 25 year career in the Counselling field, I have developed a first-hand, up-close perspective on the wellness potential of woodlands and the trees which populate them. An related diversion, I explored the comparison between the characteristics of certain tree species with common personality temperaments.

Red pines area, near Cordwood Cabin, with deciduous tree regrowth in the understory.

The Trees’n’Traits article series, written by your humble host, published in Grey-Bruce MOSAIC magazine throughout 2015: